Amador County -- Amador Water Agency Candidate Debbie Dunn has responded to recent accusations by a political group that claim she and fellow candidate Bill Condrashoff are running to push a special interest agenda. Last week, an anonymous mailer from a group called the Concerned Amador Property Owners lambasted both candidates as “radical special interests” running to push the agenda of the Foothill Conservancy, a local organization focused on environmental causes. Concerned Amador Property Owners recommended Madonna Wiebold and Paul Scott as the better candidates. A subsequent investigation by the Foothill Conservancy revealed that the Property Owners group filed through the Secretary of State as a political “recipient committee” that can take in contributions and redistribute them to candidates or other political campaigns. The group’s members are Steve Moran of Ione and Ray Brusatori of Sutter Creek. A third member, Marc Bowman of Pine Grove, was amended but then removed from the group on October 21st.

“I implore you to set right a personal injustice,” wrote Dunn in a public email titled “Just the Facts” sent out Wednesday. Among the accusations against Dunn, she was called an “upcountry activist who very recently left her position as Outreach Coordinator with the Conservancy.” A facsimile of Dunn’s Conservancy business card with her personal information was included in the mailer. In her response, Dunn said “I am not a member of the Foothill Conservancy” and have “never been” and “I have no agenda other than to keep caring and loving Amador County.” Dunn said she bid on and was awarded a contract of deliverables through the Conservancy but submitted her resignation to Foothill early in July 2008. The Property Owners Group mailer also said that if Dunn and the Conservancy succeeded in designating the Mokelumne River as Wild and Scenic, “the Federal Bureaucracy would get total and absolute control…forever stopping Amador County from getting anymore water.” Dunn pointed out that the group’s endorsed candidate, Madonna Wiebold, “publicly supports the Wild and Scenic Act. “I am confused with her endorsement and my condemnation on the same piece of paper,” said Dunn. Both Condrashoff and Dunn have responded publicly to the mailer. The Concerned Amador Property Owners group has not replied. -- Story by Alex Lane (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).